Food Safety Tip from Jamie Lee Curtis

Last week, Jamie Lee Curtis came to the Hearst dining room for lunch — and I got to meet her! She walked by our test kitchen just as I was putting the finishing touches on a dish. Needless to say, she looked amazing and was incredibly warm and friendly. We started chatting about food and she told us a story about one of her most memorable meals — that ends with a food safety tip we should all follow.

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While filming in Florida, she ordered a tuna steak from a restaurant. It tasted fine, but on her way home, she began to feel ill. By the time she arrived home, her heart was beating rapidly and she began to feel severely ill.

An ambulance was called and the EMT insisted she was having an allergic reaction, even though she kept telling them that she's not allergic to fish. When she was stabilized at the hospital, a doctor told her that she had scombroid food poisoning. It manifests itself like a severe allergic reaction, but is a result of eating fish or seafood that hasn't been chilled and refrigerated properly.

Scary, yes. But not a reason to stop eating fish. In fact, Jamie Lee Curtis still eats fish (and had it for lunch here!). All you have to do is to buy fish from a reputable seller, get it home cold, and keep it refrigerated until you start cooking. In our October issue, we even came up with dishes for people who think they don't like fish: Grilled Fish Tacos andHearty Fish Chowder. They're delicious and sure to make fish a part of your weeknight repertoire.